Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader eBook

The first seven years of Lincoln’s life were
spent in the wilds of Kentucky. In 1816 his
father left that state and moved northward to Indiana,
but here the surroundings were not much better.
A rude blockhouse, with a single large room below
and a low garret above, was the home of our young
hero. Every hardship and privation of the pioneer’s
life was here the lot of our growing youth. But
he loved the tangled woods, and hunting and fishing
were his delight.

There were no schools there, and Abraham learned a
little reading and writing from a man who shared the
poor blockhouse with the Lincoln family. For
writing, a slate was used, and now and then a pine
board, or even some flat stone upon which the figures
were traced with charcoal. His books were few,
but he read them over and over again, and the impressions
they made on him were so much the deeper. In
this way Lincoln acquired the rudiments of education.
When Abraham was scarcely nine years old, his excellent
mother died. His father married again, and fortunately
for young Lincoln, his stepmother was a lady of refinement,
who took the greatest interest in her rugged but talented
step-son. She sent him to a private school for
a while, and Abraham learned many useful things and
easily kept at the head of his class. His stepmother
also procured more books for him, for Abraham was a
most ardent reader, and he spent all his leisure time
in reading and self-culture. Being tall of stature
and well built, young Lincoln had to help his father
on the farm a great deal, and the only time left for
study was late at night or in the early morning.

Thus our future president grew up to manhood; a sturdy,
awkward, but honest backwoodsman, with a sound mind
in a healthy body.

When Lincoln was about eighteen years old, his father
again moved northward, this time to Illinois.
Here Abraham continued to work and to improve his
mind as best he might. Borrowing books from some
law office, he studied them at night and returned
them in the morning. His honesty and true merit
were soon recognized by the rest of the community
where he lived, and he was elected to represent the
people in the legislature.

Lincoln became a lawyer of more than ordinary ability,
and although his appearance remained somewhat ungainly,
he easily won his lawsuits by the clear and logical
conclusions which he advanced over those of his opponents.
He had thus secured a splendid law-practice and had
settled in Springfield, Illinois, when he became the
republican candidate for president of the United States
in 1860, and was elected the same year.